No quarantine after Covid duty for healthcare workers

“Our hospital was treating only Covid-19 patients during the previous wave. This meant that the entire staff was treating only those who already had the infection. Also, there was a five-seven day gap after Covid-19 duty where the staff remained in isolation, thereby, reducing the risk of transmitting the infection to the others,” said a resident doctor from Lok Nayak hospital on condition of anonymity.

The doctor added, “Now, with so many doctors, nurses and staff members testing positive, the hospital is strictly following the new guidelines wherein no quarantine is allowed. Without taking a break, the doctors have to continue working in non-Covid areas where the patients might already have a poor immune system and get exposed to the infection from us.”

With Covid-19 spreading like wildfire among the staff members at the hospital, most departments are operating at one-third the capacity. “There are nearly 150 to 200 resident doctors positive in the hospital at the moment, 10-12 persons are positive in each department. The number of cases has exploded. The wards where eight doctors used to be posted are now managed by just two or three people,” the doctor said.

Keeping the shortage of staff in mind, the health ministry has written to the states that residents may be hired from a website with details of eligible candidates created by the Centre. MBBS interns and final-year MBBS students may also be taught clinical management of Covid patients, the Centre has said.

The Indian Express had earlier reported that in several hospitals, doctors have been asked not to quarantine themselves even if they are exposed to a Covid-19 positive person, unless they start developing symptoms and test positive.

In case of a breach in the personal protective equipment (PPE), meaning that the healthcare workers come in contact with a positive person without appropriate masking, etc, they will continue working with proper PPE and get tested on the fifth day of exposure.

Only if the healthcare workers have symptoms suggestive of Covid-19 will they isolate and get tested. They will receive treatment as per the severity of the disease. “Healthcare workers can resume duties while wearing appropriate personal protective equipment if symptoms have resolved (except mild cough), and they are afebrile (without fever) for 3 successive days,” the guidelines read.

A doctor from Safdarjung hospital, which also has nearly 200 doctors positive, said this is not only putting the patients but also families of doctors at risk. “Earlier, the doctors were provided rooms for isolation while they were on Covid-19 duty and for a period of one week after that. Now that the hospital is not arranging for it, doctors have to go back home and put their families at risk,” the resident doctor said.

A senior faculty member from the hospital said, “There is a crisis of manpower, there is a need now to rationally deploy the staff to ensure all services are kept running.”

The resident doctor from Lok Nayak said, “The way the infection is spreading among the staff, I think the administrators are waiting for everyone to just get exposed and then they will have their entire workforce available in a couple of weeks.”